Select a Laptop According to the Screen Size

Laptop screens range from very small to quite large measured diagonally from corner to corner." Most users are only care about the screen size when shopping for devices such as laptops and smart phones." according to a July 2010 PCMag.com interview with John Jacobs, director of notebook marketing research for Display Search. The “bigger is better” is a wrong perception because a larger laptop not only costs more, but also affects your computing experience.
                 

Portability

Even 1 inch or 2 screen sizes can make a big different in terms of portability. Take Dell and Inspiron as examples, Dell’s XPS 15 and Inspiron 17R have similar technical specs, but the former has a 15.6-inch screen and weighs 6.14 pounds, while the latter offers a 17.3-inch screen and weighs a pound more. You may think that one pound is not heavy at all! However, a laptop along with its power cable, peripherals and whatever else you might carry in your bag can easily exceed 10 pounds. And University suggests using a rolling carrying case to avoid shoulder injury if your bag reaches 10 pounds.

Resolution

Screen resolution is measured in pixels, length by height. If you use your computer to watch movies, play detailed games or edit photos frequently, the sharper image quality higher-resolution screens will be suitable for you. Larger screens typically have higher resolutions and accommodate longer viewing distances than smaller ones at the same resolution.

Aspect Ratio

Most of today's laptops geared toward casual use or multimedia viewing come with a wide-screen aspect ratio of 16-to-9, like a television set, which increases screen size by about 25 percent lengthwise, affecting portability and weight. A 16-9 screen delivers the greatest field of view, which proves especially important in first-person shooters will be suitable for you frequently play games on your laptop.

Standard 4-to-3 aspect ratio screens are common on business-oriented laptops, and still appear on a few models marketed for home users. The 4-3 aspect ratio offers the most compact, lightweight option for creating documents and presentations for viewing on projection screens.

Power Consumption
A bigger screen uses more power, and it affects battery life and energy consumption. For example, the Aspire AS7750G-6857, with a 17.3-inch screen, promises three hours of maximum battery life and uses a 90-watt power supply, while its smaller cousin, the Aspire AS5755-6647, with a 15.6-inch screen, provides 4.5 hours of battery time and uses a 65-watt power supply. Note: If your laptop must stay unplugged for much of the day, choose one with a smaller screen.